What A Country!

I'd never thought I'd end up living in Australia, not in my wildest dream. Yeah sure, I'd dreamt about travelling around the world and holidaying from one country to another but I certainly never considered settling in another country. I was a true blue Malaysian, born and bred.

As luck would have it, I married someone with an affinity for Australia - Melbourne in particular. My husband Alex spent his tertiary education years here and never really wanted to leave what had become his second home. But visa problems forced him to head home. Still, the thought of settling in Australia was never far from his mind.

When I first met him, I knew he is an Australian universtiy graduate and he has friends in Melbourne. Fantastic, I thought -another great place to visit. The idea of holidaying Down Under was appealling. But when he started talking about migrating to Australia, I wasn't all that keen. Holidaying in Australia is fine and fun. But living in Australia might be another thing altogether.

Anyway, Alex went ahead with the PR visa application and we got our visas rather easily. That was a few years back before the first Bali bombing. We took our time making the big move, though. Uprooting our young family and leaving our parents and siblings behind wasn't an easy decision.

Well, we are here now. I must say the sceptic in me has disappeared. Australia is a great country. Everyone has equal opportunities in the truest sense. If you deserve something, you get it, regardless of your skin colour, religion, language, etc. Something that you don't see in many countries claiming to be democracies.

Of course, there are things that we need to get used to - shops close by 5pm on most days (except supermarkets like Coles and Safeway that may operate till midnight); water restrictions are in place (you can't even wash your car with a hose!); the weather is a bit crazy at times (you just have to bring a jacket with you when you go out, even in summer); renting a house the first time is quite a tedious affair (the landlord will check your background thoroughly and imposes all kinds of conditions before signing the contract with you), etc.

But these little "hiccups" - if they are hiccups at all - are small sacrifices. People here are generally friendly and helpful. Strangers will greet you and smile at you on the street. Same with bus drivers, cashiers, post office workers, hospital nurses, etc. You don't get this kind of treatment back in Malaysia unless you're driving a BMW and talking to the front desk people at a 5-star hotel!

And one more thing - one in four Australians is a migrant. So I don't feel much like an alien here. In fact, there are so many Asians here that sometimes, I don't feel like I'm in Australia. Even the lord mayor of Melbourne is a Hong Kong-born migrant. And the Italians and Greeks are the backbone of the city. Of course, there are the Vietnamese too. And more recently, many wealthy migrants from Mainland China have made their way here too.

Melbourne is truly cosmopolitan. You can hear various accents anywhere. It's just amazing. Yes, I like it here. And I hope to stay here for a long while.